LifeInDeath
by SiLvErStInG04
Summary: The girl was alone...cursed to be alone in life, and in death. She hoped and longed for salvation...will she find it, and in the right place?
1. salvation?

Life-in-Death  
  
The fragile girl sat on the window seat of a hidden tower in her school of witchcraft and Wizadry. It was supposed to be safe, Harry always said that Hogwarts is the safest place in the world. She was stupid enough to believe him. He was so naive, so naive to the true world around him. She wasn't. She knew all about the evil monsters that roam the halls at night, and disguise themselves as people during the day.They would make you trust them, then take that trust and throw into the mud, crushing a person's belief in humanity. Ginny wasn't a naive little girl anymore, she knew the truth, she had lived it. She only wished that she could share the truth with others so that they would not have to find out the hard way, but the evil monster forbade her. Ginny let a tear glide down her cheek, unchecked. She would do this often, sit here, where no one could find her, no one at all. Not even herself. She would just sit there, at times thinking, at other times, not. Just sitting. Tonight, she thought. Big mistake, she knew, for that got her hoping, that got her longing. She hoped for a hero to come and save her, she longed for a life where she didn't have to hide away from all around her. She remembered a sort of story that she had read in Muggle Studies. It was called, _Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner_. She remembered how he had done something so terrible, that Life-In-Death took over him, while his ship mates got Death. He was alive on the boat, but, really, he was dead. There was no one else there, no one he could talk to, nothing he could do. He was all alone. His penance for being uncaring of the world around him, _naive_, perhaps of the nature of the world, he was made to go through the ordeal of Life-In-Death, which was worse than Death, and he had to wear the Albatross he had so mercilessly killed around his neck. It was his cross to bear. Ginny was living a Life-In-Death, the monster that haunted her dreams was her Albatross. The differnce between the two was that she didn't know why she was made to go through this, she didn't understand why this was happening to her. She wanted Death, it would be better then living this thoughtless and pointless existence. She hated herself, and him. He had done this to her. She seethed, but then chided herself. This was foolish, there was nothing she could do. No one she could turn to. No hope. She stared out at the orb aptly names the moon, that was the only speck of light that was reflected in her eyes. The life was gone from her. He was this close to taking her soul. She needed help. The anger built up in her. She didn't want to be like this. She hated all about her, she didn't want to be this cowardly, she wanted to fight for her life; but how could she do that, when, ironically, her life would be forfeited if she even tried to fight back. All the anger grew in her body, and she punched the window with her small hand. She heard the shatter, it was like the first time she had bin hurt by the monster, and then she felt the sting. She grabbed her injured hand with her good one. She winced at the pain, but then look down at her hand. The blood oozed out of the gashes, fascinating the girl. She felt the emotional pain ebb away, as the pain of the gashes intensified. She slowly smiled. Perhaps this could be her salvation. She grabbed a fallen piece of glass from the smashed window, and proceeded to glide it over her pale skin, reveling in the silver and cold sting.   
  
a/n that is the first chapter of Life-In-Death. I hope that you liked it. I'm sorry that it is so depressing, but when the muse is evoked, you don't question what comes out of you and onto paper. Coleridge wrote _Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner_. I thank him for making the best piece of poetry to come out of the Romantic's Era. Coodles! 


	2. New

Life -In-Death  
  
Chapter 2 : New  
  
Ginny woke up the next morning with a start. Her nightmare ended the same as always, she tried to forget. She was aching all over. She looked at her arm fleetingly, and gasped at what she saw. Her arm was raw. All she saw was red. She turned her head away, ignoring the pain, and threw the covers off of herself. She swung her legs over the side of her four poster bed and slipped her feet into her slippers. She let out a yawn, as she got up, scratching, and walked into the bathroom. She put on the water for her daily shower, trying not to think of last night.....trying not to think at all. She gathered all the courage that she had, and lifted her face up to her mirror. She recoiled at what she saw. She looked dead. She shuddered as she looked into her own eyes; they were emtpy. Her eyes kept staring back out at her, they didn't look like her own, they looked as if they belonged to someone else, someone evil. Someone not of this world. She felt the same uneasyness she had felt last night, the same anger, before she had smashed the window. She wanted so badly to smash that mirror, to kill the person in it, to destroy that image forever. In frusrtation, she searched through her drawer, looking for anything to help her. She didn't find what she was looking for, but she knew where she could.  
  
Last year, for Harry's birthday, Ron had gotten him a pocketknife with a lion engraved on it. That was her goal, that is what she wanted. As she left her room, turning off the water, and heading towards the seventh year boy's dormitories, she had one thing on her mind; the knife. She walked camly across the threshold as she reached her battered hand towards the knob of the dormitory. She turned, and opened the door, trying not to divulge her presence, but the damn door emitted a slight squeaking noise. She winced as the loud sound cut through the peaceful silence. Ron moved slightly, mumbling something about tap dancing and spiders. Ginny let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She crept over to Harry's trunk, excited that she was going to complete her mission. She opened it with her wand, silently, and delved her hand inside. She threw things around in it, Harry wouldn't notice because it was already messy. Her hand delved deeper and deeper until it clutched onto the hilt of the pocket knife. A sadistic smile appeared on her dead face, as she lifted the knife for closer inspection. She stared the lion right in the eye, unblinkingly.   
  
"Yes," she breathed silently to herself. She used the sides of the trunk to help herself up off of the floor, as she pocketed the knife in her robes and quietly crept out of the room. She practically ran back to her dorm, thankful she had her own. She ran to the bathroom again, clutching the knife for dear life. She stared at the stranger in the mirror again, challenging her. She lifted the blade out of its home, never letting her gaze lift from the other Ginny. She lifted the knife to her already marred skin. She pulled the blade across her wrist, and the now familiar sting was back. She felt herself sit back onto the loo, feeling empty, but fulfilled. She took the knife in the other hand, as the other arm was already covered in red welts, and started to cut into herself.Deeper and deeper. It was like she was posessed, she kept cutting, not seeing what she was doing. Once she stopped, she shook her head as if coming out of a trance. A solitary tear slipped down her cheek, the only show of the pain she really felt inside. She looked down at the blood, watching it drip from her body, onto the floor of her bathroom. It was like she was trying to cleanse herself, take out all the bad blood in her. The blood that had attracted the monster. She picked up her wand, only to drop it right away, for a sharp pain shot up her arm. She gasped slightly at the pain, then resolved herself. She picked up her wand and muttered a cleaning spell. She smirked at the image in the mirror, who almost seemed to be glaring, and put on the water once more, taking off her robe. She stepped into her shower, letting the warm water run over her skin. She cleaned her body, making sure no blood was left.   
  
She left her bathroom ten minutes later, with a towel wrapped around her, as she went to her dresser. She opened the first drawer and pulled out an old v neck shirt that she had forever. She placed that on her bed and went back over to the second drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans that were getting slightly too small for her. She shrugged, it didn't matter, no one would really care anyways. She also pulled out a pair of knickers and a bra, and placed all her items on to the bed. She flicked her wand and all of a sudden the clothes were on her, and her robe was on the bed. She took her hair out of the towel, and muttered a drying spell and her hair was perfectly dry and in ringlets. She used to love her hair, for it was a deep auburn colour, but now she wished that she could just get rid of the trademark Weasly hair. She knew that her brother, despite not noticing everything else that was wrong, would notice if she coloured her hair. She looked up into the dresser mirror, forcibly not looking herself in the eye, but just looked at her hair. It used to be shiny, but now it was like the rest of her, dull. She gripped her hair hard, making herself wince, then pulled out her wand. She didn't care, she was going to do it. She coloured it black and then had dark green streaks in it. She muttered another spell to style it, making it messy, but perfect to her individual taste. She smiled wickedly at her self in the mirror. She grabbed her robe and left her dorm, with a slight jump in her step. Today was gong to be interesting.  
  
She walked out of her dorm, placing her hood up over her hair, passing everyone withouth looking, and headed towards the Great Hall. She hadn't wanted anyone to see yet. She opened the doors to the Hall to find the golden trio already there. She sat near them, but never with them. Ron hated it when she "followed" them around. Pfft, like she'd follow those pansies around. Ron nodded his head towards her in greeting, while Harry and Hermione just kept talking. Ginny glanced at Ron, acknowledging him, but then looked back to her plate. He looked at her wierdly, but shrugged and went back to his second helping of breakfast. Ginny decided that it was now or never. Did she really want attention from Ron that badly? She didn't know anymore, but what was done was done. She placed her hands to the sides of her hood, and lifted it up off her head. She let it fall away. Harry looked up for a second, dismissing it, and looked back down, but then did a double take. He stared openely.  
  
"Ron, ron!" said Harry, not looking from Ginny, as he hit Ron's arm repeatedly, trying to get his attention.  
  
"Feht?" he said, with a mouthful of food. So gross, Ginny thought to herself. Hermione was now looking at her too.   
  
"Oh, Ginny, your beautiful har! what have you done?" Ron looked up at this, and dropped his fork.  
  
"Virginia! What have you done to your hair!!" he screeched. She smiled inwardly.   
  
"Well, I've changed it slightly." she said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. She reached her hand up to her hair, feeling it, "I thought it was quie fit, Ron, don'tcha think?" She knew she was antagonizing him, but she just loved to watch the different shades of colour his face could turn. He pushed himself up off he bench, and stalked over to Ginny. He pulled her up off the bench by her robe. By now, people were staring openly at them.  
  
"Vriginia! Does mom know about this??" he asked, anger evident in his voice, "Hmm?? I can't believe you! What is your problem?" Ginny looked away from her brother, disconnecting her robe from his hand, and sat back down.  
  
"Ronald, as you know, I am 16 years old and I do not need permission from you or mom. Just get over yourself Ron, and stop making a scene." She said, scolding her brother. He glared daggers at her, but listened, and walked back to his seat, but not before threatening her.  
  
"We'll talk about this later," he said, through his teeth. Ginny just rolled his eyes. She went back to her breakfast, but she could hear the whispers of the trio, and the rest of the hall. She piled food on to her plate, but just sat there, staring at it. She didn't want to eat it. She had no appetite. She sighed, resting her head on her hand. This caused her sleeve to travel down her arm, revealing her injuries, she hadn't noticed. She was so busy trying not to think that she didn't even notice someone coming towards her, or that they could probably see her arm. She started when a shadow fell over her. She looked up into cold, grey eyes, that were filled with mirth.  
  
"I think that it's quite an improvement, Weaslette." Draco Malfoy said, so simply, and then walked out of the Great Hall. Ginny stared after him, shocked. She heard Ron's footsteps come over to her again, as she stared after the form of Malfoy.  
  
"What the hell is going on here, Virginia?" he asked increduously, "what are you doing, talking to that git?" Ginny tore her eyes away from where Malfoy walked off from and look at her brother.  
  
"Ron, if you hadn't noticed, he was the only one talking, I hadn't said a word!!" she said, her face getting redder. Ron was about to say something, when she got up, throwing her bag over her shoulder, hitting her brother. He fell to the ground with a thud and a curse, as Ginny walked casually out of the Hall, smirking.  
  
She opened the doors, only to be grabbed by strong arms and pulled into a neighbouring alcove........  
  
a/n well, there's the second chapter, I hope that you like it. Sorry if it's a little slow right now C:  
  
Kicksomeass: Thank you so much for reviewing! It means so much to me that you like it! You rock!!! :) 


	3. blood lost, heart found

Life-in-Death  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter, except those dolls that I have, oh and those movies, but newho....  
  
"What the Merlin-" she shrieked, as she was pushed against the wall. She smelt skanky perfume, and felt sharp talon like nails dig into her shoulders. Ginny looked up but only saw a hooded figure. She suppressed her first reaction, to scream.  
  
"Who in the bloody hell do you think you are, Weasly?" said her captor. She spat her name out with such vehemence that Ginny winced.   
  
"Excuse me?" she asked, not understanding what this person was on about. That only caused the hooded person to grip Ginny tighter. "Ouch, you're hurting me!"  
  
"Hurting you? Who cares. All I care about is that you staying away from Draco. He is not yours, he is mine. Got that?"   
  
"Um, sorry, but for one, Draco is no ones, he has his own mind!" she knew that it wasn't smart to antagonize the person for obviously she wasn't afraid to hurt her.  
  
"You Bitch" she said, as she threw Ginny against the wall harder then before. Ginny gasped as all the air was stolen from her lungs, jarring her whole body. She could have sworn that she had heard a crack. She fell to the ground, unable to stand for her knees gave way from shock and pain. The hooded girl picked her back up and hit her head against the wall repeatedly until all Ginny saw was darkness.  
  
Draco realized that after he left, he had carelessly left his potions notes with Goyle. He didn't really understand why he even gave them to him, it wasn't like they were going to help him much. Draco smirked, "The great, bloody, oaf" he said out loud. He walked past the alcove, and heard a slight whimper. He stopped immediately in his tracks, trying to see if he could hear it again.  
  
"ooh"  
  
Draco realized that that wasn't the usual moan that you hear coming form the alcove, it was a moan of pain. He went to investigate the alcove and found a fragile girl lying in a pool of blood. Draco started, who could have done this! It was barbaric. Draco thought, 'hell, he had actually seen much worse, his father did worse to him,' but still, this was a young girl. He knelt down next to her, lifting a lock of hair away from her face so htat he could see who it was. He was surprised to see that it was the Weasly girl, and it tugged at his minimal heart strings to see her so vulnerable. He picked her up, heading towards the hospital wing.  
  
"Hold on, Ginny, you're going to be okay," he said. He realized that Ginny was coming to. She looked up at him with scared eyes, as he looked down at her with warm ones, well, as warm as a Malfoy's can get.  
  
"Dr-ra-aco," she said in an inaudible whisper,"pl-lease, d-don't t-take m-me to Pompfrey." It was taking so much of her energy to speak, he saw that, and frowned. This silly girl needed medical attention, and he was going to get it for her.  
  
"What are ya on about?" he asked, "You need a healer, Ginny, you've lost alot of blood." She winced, and shook her head.  
  
"No, please, just look at my left arm, and I think that you may understand, just please-" she said, but fell silent as a bought of pain caught up with her, and made her breathless. Draco looked around for a place to set her down so that he could look at her arm, and realized that he was really close to his own room, so he ran down another corridor and whispered the password to his room. He bolted through the door as soon as it opened, placing Ginny softly on the bed, as if he were caring for a new born babe. She settled into his sheets, as he lifted her sleeve to look at her arm. He thought that he had seen marks on her arm this morning, but he didn't believe that a Gryffindor could do this to herself. He knew why she didn't want to go to a healer, for then they would all know. So, Draco decided that he would heal her. He is in the advanced Healing class, so he knew what to do. First he ran to his bathroom to grab some fresh towels, and flicked his wand to get a bowl, and ran some hot water so that he could clean the wound. he went back to his bed, all those things floating behind him, and landing softly on the bed. He took off her robe so that he could asses her body for the extent of damage. He concluded that she had multiple hits to her head, for there were some contusions, and that was where most of the blood was coming from. She had some deep gashes on her shoulders, that he saw were from nails. He felt her arms, and found that her right arm was broken. He ran through his head the spells needed to heal her. He decided that he should take care of her head wound first, seeing as how it was the worst. He dipped the towel into the water, wetting it, then brought it to her head. She winced slightly. He continued his ministrations, softly. It took about two hours to fully take care of all of her injuries, and by that time he knew that hey both had some explaining to do, as to why they were missing from classes. He decided just to let her sleep, but seeing as how she got knocked in the head, he had to stay with her, just in case she had a concussion. He watched her for what seemed like hours, watching the gentle rhythm of her breathing. He slowly drifted off himself, wondering who had done this to her, and vowing to make them pay.  
  
a/n sorry this has taken so long, but I'm not getting much feedback on it, so I kind of lost heart on it, but then I thought, meh, I'm just writing this for me, so yeah.....wow, blabber much? Haha. Newho, thanks for reading if you did!! I hope that you enjoyed it. I'm sorry if you didn't. 


	4. Angel

Life-in-Death

Chapter 4: Angel

Ginny awoke to the feel of warm breath on her hand, which at first startled her, but then comforted. She tried to open her eyes, but winced as the light tried to make its way in. She cursed it for being so bright. Ginny was confused, she didn't know where she was, and why. And who was that breathing? She tried to remember what had happened, but she could barely remember her name, let alone what had occurred the previous night. She moved slightly, which jarred her entire body, and she could feel the black coming to claim her. Not this time, she needed answers, craved them.

At her intake of breath, then slight movement and wince, Draco awoke. He had been jumpy all night, waking every hour or so, afraid that he was the only one breathing in the room. He didn't know why he cared, or why he was helping her to survive. Perhaps it was because he had seen this monstrous deed done to another who was very close to him, and no one had done anything for her. No one found her lying in her own pool of blood, and rescued her, and for that he had felt guilty everyday of his life. It was his fault, he felt, that she was dead. At the movement of the hand near his temple, he stole back to reality, ready to face the challenge at hand.

He looked at the patient before him, past memories coming back to haunt him. He placed her hand in his, and she smiled. Well, as much of a smile as she could muster in her state.

"How are you feeling?" he said softly, as to not alarm her, for he saw that her eyes were tightly shut "you know, you can open your eyes now," She nodded slightly, as she scrunched her eyes, letting only minimal light in.

"Where am I?" she asked, barely above a whisper. Draco frowned slightly, what if she had amnesia? She did have nasty trauma to her head.

"You're in The Slytherin head boy room," he stated, looking around him, "do not be alarmed, you're safe here." Ginny merely nodded, as she turned to look at him.

Ginny knew that she had seen his face before, and that she should remember him for something awful, but could only think of him as her angel.

"Angel?" she murmured. Draco looked confused, as Ginny merely smiled at her Angel.

"Angel, can you tell me what happened? I can't remember, everything is all fuzzy."

"Well," Draco started, "all I know is that I found you in the alcove, with all these cuts and bruises, and then I was going to take you to the hospital wing, and you told me not too."

Ginny looked confused, why would she not want to be taken to the hospital wing?

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, because of what is on your arm..." he trailed off as Ginny lifted her robe up her arm, and stared at the deep gauges. She gasped, as everything came rushing back to her at full speed. The hooded figure, the cracking, the pain, the blackness. Then she remembered what happened before that, the monster, the window, the knife. She looked up at her Angel, knowing full well he was more devil then Angel. The tears came gushing out of her, as she was unable to stop them. She didn't want to cry in front of him. She hid herself away, but he wouldn't let her.

"Don't be ashamed, Virginia, you've been through a lot, you're allowed a few tears," he stated, as he pulled her face up. He wiped away at the tears. "Do you remember everything now?" Gin smiled back at him, and nodded.

"Unfortunately, everything. Some things that I wish I could just forget forever." Draco looked away for a second as he let his hand fall to hers, trying to understand the underlying meaning that he knew was hidden in that statement. Unable to configure it, he brought his confused eyes up to face her.

"Gin, can you tell me?" Gin looked away from his searching eyes, debating whether to tell him that it was because of him that girl came after her. She didn't want to put that guilt on her Angel, so she gave him the gist of what had happened. He could feel there was something that she was keeping back, but he knew that he shouldn't push her. This was the most they had ever spoken in at least 5 years, so he wasn't going to ask anymore, he didn't feel he had the right to. Gin slightly wished that he would ask her about the arm, and then maybe she would be able to get that evil demon off of her, but she couldn't risk it, not yet anyway. And, she didn't want to risk getting her Angel mixed up in it as well.

Draco left to grab some food for them, and to let Gin sleep. She curled up in a ball, wrapping herself tighter into the soft, silk sheets. She let herself be taken over by the comfort of sleep. Just as she thought that she was going to be alright, her monster was back, and now he had a new friend.

A/N: I know that I have not written a word in a very long time, and I am so truly sorry for that, I want to thank my reviewer, kicksomeass! I'm glad that you like my story, and I am hoping now that I will actually be able to continue writing it. :) thanks for reading! I will try to update again really soon.


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